


Drabble Stuff

by HufflepuffLovesPizza



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: AmySarahRomCom, Drabble, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Incorrect Shoot Scenes, Shootweek18, Slightly Smutty, Tumblr Prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-01-21 19:29:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12464358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffLovesPizza/pseuds/HufflepuffLovesPizza
Summary: Just some drabble prompts from Tumblr or wherever for fun and practice. And ShootWeek18!





	1. Teach Me To Fight #57

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the super awesome @t-ninjaa for drabble support. From this prompt list. https://t-ninjaa.tumblr.com/post/162345445616/send-me-a-pairing-and-a-number-and-ill-write-youp

“Teach me to fight.”

Reese was shocked; Root was looking at him and not Shaw. In fact, Shaw was across the subway cleaning all her guns again seemingly not paying attention to their conversation. They had a brief slow period with irrelevant and relevant numbers; everybody was getting a little itchy and edgy. And all around bored.

“Teach me some useful top government operative type of stuff.” Root stared at Reese seriously, she wasn’t actually joking.

“You want me to teach you? Me?” Reese raised his eyebrows to Root, then added a little head nod in the general direction of Shaw.

“She would probably kill me while teaching and just call it a happy accident.” Root tilted her head in a smug way; she couldn’t help lick her lips though in unrequited lustful glance at her favorite primary asset. She decided to ask her second favorite primary asset for help on toning up on fighting skills; the only other primary asset on the planet. Sure she wanted to ask Shaw, but she was hesitant. They had actually broken Shaw’s golden three-night rule with a fourth time last week and she felt the petite primary asset might be avoiding her. The fourth time might have been the best, well all the times with Shaw were the best but there was something about that fourth time that left them both more breathless. It was an intense encounter to say the least with Root feeling the blissful after effects for two days.

“Sure, I could teach you some stuff,” Reese said casually then was surprised when Shaw appeared right by his side, she must catapulted across the subway platform.

“You’re going to teach Root fighting?” Shaw snorted while crossing her arms against her chest. She had some grease spots on her arms from cleaning the guns.

Root thought Shaw’s arm guns never looked better sweaty and with some grease smears.

“Y'all are both excellent fighters.” Root leaned into Shaw’s side. “Especially when you’re huffy.” She spoke slower and added as much breath as she could, lingering so she could inhale Shaw’s scent.

Shaw scoffed; she didn’t know what game Root was playing at. “Reese, I wouldn’t waste your time. She’s just going to tase someone. Then zip tie them to a chair.”

“Are you still bitter?” Root tilted her head and stared at Shaw.

“Or she will tase someone while they are asleep and zip tie them to a car.” Shaw scowled at Root, yeah that one still kind of stung. She admitted she didn’t know how to act around Root right now. They had hooked up last week breaking her three night rule, which she was scolding herself for breaking. But damn. She begrudgingly admitted she had never been with anyone like Root, just seemed a shame to waste when it’s right there like a good scotch or tasty filet mignon. In their line of work, there wasn’t much hope either one would make it out alive; so it didn’t seem that terrible of an idea when Root started sucking on her bottom lip while undressing her feverishly.

“Well, you were already laying down.” Root stared at Shaw, “I should have woken you up a different way I supposed.”

Shaw rolled her eyes; she turned to face Reese again. “Or she’ll just drug them. See, it’s a waste of time.”

Root looked to Reese with pouty eyes. “C’mon Big Lug, what if Samaritan agents pop up and I’m all out of tasers and drugs? What if Harry or Bear are in trouble?”

That seemed to do it. “She makes a good point Shaw.” Reese turned to Root, “Meet me at that gym around the corner tonight.”

Shaw let out a big sigh.

“Thanks Big Lug,” Root smiled warmly to Reese.

“Can’t wait to see this.” Shaw spat out, clearly amused yet looking pissed off at this teaching lesson.

“Shaw this is serious training, we are doing hand to hand sparring with partners. If you find a partner come spar, if not take the night off. Go see a movie. I hear Wonder Woman is good.” Reese gave Shaw a cocky smile.

Root watched Shaw as she just shrugged, gathered up her bag and headed towards the exit “Whatever. Good luck Reese, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Then she glared at Root. “Break a leg, for real.”

Root smirked back at Shaw then gave a trademark non-wink to Reese.

Later, that night at the gym Root and Reese were on a training mat and he was showing her some hand moves. The gym was dimly lit and smelled of old socks, men’s cologne and extreme sweat; not regular sweat, extreme exerting nose twitching sweat.

They had been only sparing for about twenty minutes, taking it slow so Root could learn more complex moves. They heard the gym door open and Shaw walked in with an intense look. Before Reese could say anything, Fusco walked in behind her.

“Can’t believe I let you drag me here. Tonight is triple topping night at Tony T’s pizza,” Fusco looked even grumpier than Shaw.

“Lionel, news flash - you need exercise more than you need another three topping pizza,” Shaw said as she threw her gym bag on the floor.

“Thanks Miss Congeniality. Can we just spy on your girlfriend already so I can go home.” Fusco gave Shaw a knowing look then pursed his lips at her.

Shaw grabbed Fusco by his workout t-shirt. “She’s NOT my girlfriend. She’s my co-worker. Teammate. That’s it.”

Shaw tore off her hoodie and motioned for Fusco to hurry. They both got on an adjacent mat and stood in front of each other.

“Okay, Lionel. Give me your best moves,” Shaw instructed the detective while crouching down and ready to pounce.

Reese and Root stood up from their sparring to watch their fellow teammates; they both had amused looks on their faces. They watched on in continued amusement as Fusco would lunge for his petite teammate who would always dodge him, hit him hard and then he would land on mat with a loud BAM! Reese and Root looked to each other, holding down a chuckle.

Fusco turned to them, “Hey, Tall Dark and Deranged let’s see if you do any better.” He stood up and motioned for Reese to take his place. Shaw eyed him fiercely, while rolling her shoulders; ready for the rumble. Reese just returned a breezy look back to the petite primary asset.

“I’m here to teach Root, c’mon let’s get back to it.” Reese motioned for Root to stand in front of him. “Okay…” He then threw a series of hits, some landed on Root and some she defended pretty good. She definitely had picked up some better fighting skills. He would touch her arms or shoulders when necessary to improve her poses.

Shaw let out a big sigh. “Reese, you’re being way too easy on her.” She couldn’t stand and watch anymore. Even though Reese was teaching Root, she didn’t really like seeing his hands on her body. 

“By all means Shaw, why don’t you step in.” Reese smirked at Shaw, then glanced over to Fusco with a knowing look.

Root couldn’t help hold down a high wattage smile. She was going over the facts in her head; Shaw came here tonight because she was here and now she wanted to spar with her. So maybe Shaw either felt they could put their sexual aspect aside and be friends or wanted more of their sexual aspect; she really hoped for the later.

Shaw started off with a bang. “Push your opponent down. Hard.” She grabbed Root by the waist and threw her down on the mat, then straddled her hips. Reese’s eyebrows went up higher than usual. Fusco made a wincing face knowing now how much that body mat slam hurts now.

“Got it. Hard it is.” Root said with her face pressed against the mat and several shots of arousal ran through her body like string of colored lights coming on. 

Shaw then jumped up and waited for Root to get up to start throwing punches at her. Surprisingly, Root dodged quite a few Shaw punches, which seemed to make the grumpy primary asset even more frustrated. They went back and forth, exerting more and more strength trying to land a blow on each other.

“Uh!” Shaw grunted as she landed a light jab on Root.

“Uh huh…mmm…” Root grunted back as she barely missed hitting Shaw by a centimeter or so.

Reese and Fusco watched the two women like they were watching a tennis match, waiting for the ball to land or one of them to get punched really hard.

Shaw was able to grab Root’s hand at a missed hit; she held it and they both grunted some more as they battled for physical dominance.

“Feel that?” As Shaw twisted Root’s arm behind her back and whispered in her ear.

“Mmmmmm…yeah…” Root then grabbed Shaw’s leg and dug her fingernails in deep. “How about that?”

“Decent…deeper…” Shaw croaked out while twisting Root’s a little more and pressing up against her back firmly.

“Got it…deeper…” Root dug her fingernails deeper.

“Right there.” Shaw brought her other hand around and dug her nails into Root’s rib cage. “Deeper.” She breathed out into Root’s good ear. 

“Oh yeah. Oh god.” Root breathes out barely.

Fusco leaned over to Reese, “I think this is bordering into voyeurism.”

They let go of each and circled around each other on the mat again. “Root you gotta hit me harder than that. Hard right here,” Shaw pointed to her stomach.

“I’m going hard…” Root breathed out in between throwing some more punches. “…really hard.”

“Yeah, right here…” Shaw let Root land a punch. “That’s good…go even harder and deeper.” Shaw latched onto Root’s hand and held it over her stomach.

Reese and Fusco turned to each other with slightly disgusted faces.

Root actually grabbed Shaw’s arm and threw her over her shoulder, landing on her back with a loud thud. Before Shaw could jump up, Root pounced on her and tried to hold Shaw’s arms but the petite primary asset was much stronger and flipped over on her stomach. However, Shaw wasn’t quite strong enough to get out from under Root who pinned her down with an elbow to the back.

“Good work Reese,” Shaw looked up to Reese who looked down to her, happy his student got in a good smack down on fellow primary asset. “Root really dig in.”

Root then leaned further on her elbow jammed into Shaw’s back. “Is this good?”

“Yeah…uuhh…right there…don’t move,” Shaw moaned out.

“Mmmmm…right here…what about this?” Root moved her elbow in a circular motion.

“Oh yeah…even better…” Shaw grunted out, “…point of pressure.”

Reese and Fusco looked down on the two sparring with scrunched up noses, they looked like they were watching dental surgery performed live.

“Don’t stop…” Shaw croaked out with labored breathing.

“More pressure?”

“Mmmm…uhhhh…yeah.”

After a few more awkward seconds, both women released and stood up again on the mat. Shaw lunged for Root again. They both fell down on the mat with a loud thump, Root winced a bit with the slam landing on her back. She was able to throw up a long leg while bucking her hips at the same time she dislodged Shaw enough to push up her torso from the mat. Then Shaw surged for Root and put her in a choke-hold.

“If your opponent makes that move, use the choke-hold like this. Tight.” Shaw had her torso pressed up against Root’s back. She was breathing slightly hard in Root's non-implant ear.

“Oh yeah, that’s tight. Uhhh so tight.” Root breathed out breathless.

“You want your fingers to feel how tight.” Shaw said a little more breathless.

“You’re so tight right now. Ummmm.” Root croaked out with half lidded eyes.

“Yeah, it’s tight. It’s really tight.” Shaw’s voice sounded so hoarse, both women were breathing hard.

Reese and Fusco turned to each other, unable to watch the sparing anymore. 

“When they start dry humping each other, I’m outta here," Fusco said with a disgusted look on his face.


	2. “I need you to pretend we’re dating." #76

“What?” Root was completely shocked by Shaw’s request. She had come into Bloomingdales to watch Shaw work the make-up counter because that was just about the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life. The way Shaw interacted with customers was pretty priceless, from her disinterest to mild hostility to almost out right disgust with the whole situation. Shaw’s demonstrations of her general lack of enthusiasm for the whole retail process were comedy gold for Root. She never really stopped smiling whenever she watched the grumpy primary asset sell cosmetics while threatening customers. Here she was yet again, sitting on a stool, sipping an iced coffee and asking for another Shaw makeover. She was really hoping that Shaw would take her to one of the supply rooms again and makeover her lower regions. 

“Just give me your hand, geesh.” Shaw reached over the counter and grabbed Root’s hand and laced their fingers together. Shaw enjoyed watching Root get all flushed over this simple contact while trying to hide it and be cool about it. Okay, she begrudgingly admitted that Root’s hand was soft and didn’t necessary mind touching it. 

Root stared at her flabbergasted. “Is this for a mission?” Root looked down at their joined hands and felt warmth spread through her body. 

Before Shaw could snap back at her a guy, a fellow co-worker, walked over to them and eyed them up and down suggestively. His name tag read ‘Marco’ and his mere presence resulted in Shaw rolling her eyes numerous times. Root was almost jealous Marco got more eye rolls than she did. 

“Helloooo, Stacy.” The way Marco slithered up to Root and Shaw it was surprising he didn’t leave a trail of slime in his wake. "Is this your woman? Because if she is, we can all go to the club together.” He emphasized the word ‘together’ in an all around creepy way. 

Root couldn’t stop her eyebrows from rising up about as high as they could go. Shaw recognized this look, if Marco didn’t walk or crawl away soon, he might be losing his knees or his life. 

“Hi Marco, we can’t go because I’ll be giving my girlfriend here Stacy, so many mind blowing, toe tingling orgasms she won’t be able to walk, let alone dance.” Root lifted up their joined hands and kissed Shaw’s fingers. 

“Fucking lesbians.” Marco scoffed, shook his head and started to walk away. 

Shaw watched Marco walk away with a smirk on her face and she saw Root was just about to say something. “Don’t say it.”

“Sameen, please.” Root leaned over the counter and whispered into Shaw’s ear. “It’s all set up…you’re giving me blue bean innuendo.” Root pouted to Shaw. “There was even pun potential.” 

This time Shaw leaned over the counter to whisper into Root’s good ear, flicking her tongue on said good ear. Root gasped and nearly fell off the stood. 

“If you say one more thing, I won’t show you the new shipment of luminizer we got in the back supply closet.”


	3. When Shaw Met Root

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Random scenes from the movie When Harry Met Sally, starring Root and Shaw instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a just blatant rip-off. Was just having fun with Incorrect Shoot Scenes. Complete dialogue and scenes from the movie ‘When Harry Met Sally’ - Happy #ShootWeek18!

**Part 1**

Shaw and Carter practiced their batting with coin activated pitching machines at a local borough park. A line of kids waited to use the machines after the ‘old ladies’ finished, the kids kept whispering and getting mean looks from Shaw and Carter. 

Carter got ready for the first pitch from the machine, “I don't understand this relationship you’ve got with Root.”

“What do you mean?” asked Shaw with a confused look on her face to her friend and colleague. 

“You enjoy being with her?” Carter swung and knocked the ball out of the stadium, if there had been a stadium; as it was a batting cage the ball slammed with a huge boom against the back wall. 

“Yah.” Shaw swung her arms around and moved her shoulders up and down getting ready for her next pitch. 

“You find her attractive?” asked Carter cautiously, knowing how her friend tended to blow up at slightly datey stuff or remotely relationship talk. 

“Yah.” Shaw begrudgingly shrugged her shoulders. Okay, so Root was hot Shaw admitted to herself sometimes; and maybe from the very first time they met (Root had almost accidentally run Shaw over with her car.) Actually, sometimes Root was too damn hot for her own good. Luckily, she annoyed the shit of the Persian detective so most of the time the hotness factor wore off, especially if it involved Root driving somewhere. 

“And you're not sleeping with her,” Carter said this as stating a fact, yet her voice still kind of delivered it as a question. 

“Nope. Gawd no,” Shaw scowled back at her fellow detective. Okay, she might have played ‘the lady doth protest to much card’ because the thought had crossed her mind a few times, or a lot of times of sleeping with Root. And in the beginning Root flirted shamelessly with her which was hard to turn down, yet she always managed to do so. There had been some nights after hanging out with Root that Shaw found herself back at her apartment with her hand down her pants relieving some tension, but sometimes the nerd just wound her up verbally on purpose for fun. 

“You're afraid to let yourself be happy,” Carter hit another home run and then stared intensely at Shaw, confident in her theory on her friend. 

“Why can't you give me credit for this? This is a big thing for me. I don’t have many friendships with women that don’t involve sex,” Shaw whacked her baseball pitch fiercely hard sending it smashing against the back wall with a loud thud. 

“Or men,” Carter smirked at Shaw. 

“If that’s a veiled reference for calling me a slut…then okay,” Shaw winked at Carter. 

Shaw didn’t do feelings well, sex was a way to get close to someone sometimes without having to actually talk to them; and yes she knew now that always backfired even with men. She decided she had to take a new approach in trying to relate people. 

“I feel like I'm growing,” Shaw paused and looked at Carter. 

“You never slept with me,” Carter shot back at Shaw and the ball just pitched to her; which she might have hit too hard to prove a point. 

“I don’t ever remember you offering or being interested,” Shaw replied back quickly. 

“I was drunk that one time and you turned me down. Did you grow that night?” Carter stared and did a head tilt towards her friend. 

Shaw sighed. She didn’t know exactly why she never slept with Carter, the woman was the whole package – stunningly beautiful, smart and funny. She thought maybe because the woman reminded her of a cool, big sister. The main reason she thought probably why she never slept with her because she had been one of the few people in her life she could talk to about some stuff. Carter was practically the only woman she had met in her life she liked hanging out with, she didn’t want to ruin that with sex. Same thing went for Root. The annoying computer programmer was mostly tolerable, she didn’t like overly girly stuff and she seemed to love having verbal insults hurled at her. She had met both of them in college but lost touch with Root over ten years ago; only reconnecting in the last few months. Still, when she met both of them and put them in the no sex zone in her head back then, that status stayed in her head. 

Shaw paused for a moment to stare at Carter again to get her point across, “I feel like I'm growing.”

Suddenly, one of the kids was getting impatient with the less batting the two ‘old ladies’ were doing and all the talking so they started getting rowdy and mouthy. 

“You finish yet lady?” shouted one tall lanky kid. 

Shaw looked over with a scowl and growled at the kids, “Hey, I got a whole stack of quarters and I was here first.”

“Were not,” the kid yelled back on the verge of sticking his tongue out at the short ‘old lady.’

“Was too,” Shaw walked over closer to the fence where the tall lanky kid was standing, she was shorter than the kid so he wasn’t overly intimidated by her. 

“Were not!” Once again the kid yelled back to Shaw. 

“Was too!” Shaw yelled back this time raising her voice. The look in her eyes slightly scared the kid and he stepped back from the fence to go sit on the bench near by until the two ‘old ladies’ were done hitting balls and talking about their boring love lives. 

“Stupid jerk,” the kid mumbled from the bench. 

“Little creep,” Shaw mumbled back to the kid, then turned her head back to Carter, “Where was I?”

“You were growing,” Carter said with a slightly flabbergasted face watching her friend go from getting into a fight with a little kid to also watching her friend try for the second time in her life to make a connection, a real connection with someone. 

This was big for Shaw, she didn’t have many friends, she scared most people off. There were a few people that were tough and stupid enough to stick around the Persian firecracker like her and Fusco but not many. Shaw’s newfound friendship with long lost one-time road trip companion Root was something different. Carter wanted to support this new platonic friendship because as much as she loved Shaw, her dear friend was not only a dating disaster she was an extreme introvert and maybe something else. She worried if Shaw might ever find someone to settle down with; especially after her breakup with Tomas. The one time Shaw took a chance on a relationship and the asshole cheated on her. 

“Yeah. It's very freeing with Root. I can say anything to her,” Shaw was focused once again on hitting balls, working on perfecting her swing. 

“Are you saying you can say things to her you can't say to me?” Carter hoped she didn’t let a tinge of jealously seep through her voice. 

“Nah it's just different. It's a whole new perspective. I get the nerd's point of view on things. Like you she tells me about some of her dates, all women of course.” Shaw smacked another ball; so far she’s hit non-stop home runs. 

“You tell her about your dates or shall I say, hook-ups…they’re not really dates are they?” Carter teased Shaw. 

“Tease if you will, but my three-night rule works mighty fine. Like the other night. I hooked up with this guy and he actually meowed,” Shaw glanced over to Carter with an extreme smug look on her face. 

“You made a guy meow?” Carter stopped hitting balls and stared at Shaw dumbfounded. 

“Yah. That's the point, I can say these things to her you know like I do to you. And the great thing is, I don't have to lie because I'm not always thinking about how to get her into bed. At first she was always trying to get me into bed, but now I can just be myself,” Shaw was oblivious to Carter still standing motionless in her cage with balls whizzing past her. 

“You made a guy meow?” Carter asked again. 

**Part 2**

Root and Reese were walking to a restaurant. Shaw and Joss were doing the same thing a few streets over headed to the same destination. Reese was in the midst of telling Root another Zoe ‘story’, the man had a hard time getting over his on/off again not really girlfriend. 

“You sent a cookie basket to yourself.” Root repeated this statement because she knew this was something Reese would actually do. She shook her head; Reese wasn’t good at reading the signs that Zoe was never going to settle down with him. 

“Eighty dollars I spent on this big stupid arrangement of cookies and I wrote a card that I planned to leave on the front table.” Reese said looking rather glum towards Root as they walked down a New York street in the colder temperatures of fall. 

Root gave him a sympathetic look as she wrapped her coat around her tighter. 

“I left it right where Zoe would just happen to see it.” Reese said with sad eyes. 

“What did the card say?” Root suspected Reese was pulling another one of his kooky jealous plans on Zoe, plans that never seemed to work on the philandering woman. 

"Please, say yes. Love Iris." Reese smirked and shoved his hands deeper into his long coat pockets. 

“Did it work?” Root already knew the answer, yet she always loved making Reese squirm and say it out loud. 

“She never even came over. She forgot this charity thing that she had to go to. She’s never going to slow down with work.” 

“Of course she isn't.” Root said plainly and rightly. 

“You're right, you're right, I know you're right,” the tall brooding man grimaced. “Where is this place?” Reese tried to shake it off. 

“Somewhere in the next block.” Root said, as she looked further down the street. 

“Uh... I can't believe I'm doing this.”

“Look, Shaw is one of my friends and you are one of my friends and if by some chance you two hit it off then we could all still be friends instead of drifting apart the way you do when you get involve with someone who doesn't know your friends.”

“You and I haven't drifted apart since I started seeing Zoe.” 

Root stopped walking and turned to Reese, “If Zoe ever actually committed to you and I actually met her in person…I'm sure that you and I would drift apart.”

“She's never going to commit to me is she?”

“Of course she isn't.” Root sighed very loudly and looked sternly at Reese. 

“You're right, you're right, I know you're right.” Reese said again out loud to convince himself and Root. 

Meanwhile, a few streets over Shaw and Carter walked towards the same restaurant. The dinner was a set up by Root and Shaw so their friends could meet and possibly hit it off for something more. Shaw was introducing Root to Joss and Root was introducing Reese to Shaw. It was a matchmaking dinner per Root’s suggestion. Shaw thought it was a terrible idea, yet she thought it could be quality entertainment to see Root on a blind date. She would make it up to Joss afterwards when it went pear shaped. 

“I don't know about this.” Joss had a very concerned look on her face was she walked down the street with Shaw. 

“It's just a dinner.” Shaw said deadpanned. 

“You know I've finally gone to a new place in my life where I'm comfortable with the fact that it's just me and my work. If she's so great why aren't you taking her out?” Joss pursed her lips and glared at Shaw. 

“How many times do I have to tell you, we're just friends.” Shaw sighed loudly. 

“So you're saying she's not that attractive.”

“No, I told you she _is_ attractive. Well, as attractive as you can get by still being extremely annoying and dorky.”

“Yeah but you also said she has a good personality.”

“Yeah, she’s got a decent personality I guess.” Shaw sighed again; the tall lanky brunette did have a very decent personality when she wasn’t being annoying, yet kind of an in a cute way. Wait, what Shaw thought. 

Joss stopped walking and turned to Shaw. She raised her arms in the air. 

“What?” Shaw looked at Joss very confused. 

“When someone is not that attractive, they're always described as having a good personality.” Carter stopped walking and stood firm on her point. 

“Look, if you would ask me, ‘What does she look like?’ and I said, ‘She has a good personality.’ That means she's not attractive. But just because I happened to mention that she has a good personality, she could be either. She could be attractive with a good personality, or not attractive with a good personality.” Shaw explained this rationally and logically. 

“So which one is she?” Joss was not playing; she wanted a real hard, blunt answer. 

“Attractive. Irritatingly hot.” Shaw thought again how seriously hot Root was, the woman was infuriatingly attractive. She felt her face grow hot and lower region as well thinking about Root, which she totally ignored. 

“But not beautiful, right?” Carter pressed on. 

Shaw scowled and walked ahead of Carter on the street. She didn’t look back to see if Carter was following her or not. 

Finally, seated at the restaurant, there was mild chatter going on between the four people. Root was talking about writing with Joss. Reese was talking with Shaw about negotiating a hostage situation. Both couples weren’t really sparking. 

Then there was awkward silence. All four people looked uncomfortable. 

“Shaw, you and Reese have both lived in New Jersey,” Root said with a hopeful smile, hopeful to start up a conversation again. 

“Really,” Reese looked Shaw with a blank face. 

“Where did you live?” Shaw asked with a blank face. 

“South Orange,” Reese replied. 

“Haddenfield,” Shaw replied. 

Shaw and Reese nodded with a polite smile then fell back into silence. Everyone took a sip of their drinks and looked rather bored. 

“So, what are we going to order?” Shaw asked, while reaching over and tearing into another bread roll. 

“Well, I'm going to start with the grilled riddichio,” Root turned to Shaw and smiled. 

“Joss, Root is a the most annoying orderer. Not only does she always pick the pickiest thing on the menu but she orders it in a way that enrages the chef.” Shaw looked over to Root with a sneer. “And usually the chef comes out and wants to stab her.” 

Root glared at Shaw, however it turned into a smirk because she thought it was sweet that Shaw paid attention to what she ordered. She felt her heart beat faster looking at Shaw. 

“I think restaurants have become too important,” Joss looked over her menu unimpressed. 

“Mmm, I agree. Restaurants are to people in the eighties what theatre was to people in the sixties. I read that in magazine.” Reese put his menu down and grabbed a bread roll. 

Joss lowered her menu and stared at Reese with a bewildering look in her eyes. 

“I wrote that,” Joss stared at Reese in awe. 

“Get outta here,” Reese replied back in between bites of his bread roll. 

“No, I did, I wrote that.” Joss’s lit up; her eyes were beaming at Reese. 

“I've never quoted anything from a magazine in my life, that's amazing, don't you think that's amazing? And you wrote it?” Reese’s eyes lit up too as he stared back at Joss. 

“I also wrote ‘Pesto is the quiche of the eighties." Joss gave a shy smile to Reese. 

“Get over yourself,” Reese had a huge grin on his face as he leaned against the table towards Joss’s direction. 

“I did!” Joss’s face now was beaming at Reese. 

“Where did I read that?” Reese only staring at Joss, he had pure wonderment glowing on his face. 

“New York Magazine,” Joss stared intensely at Reese. 

“Root has worked for New York Magazine.” Shaw tried to interject and put the double blind date back on course. 

“You know that piece was really great, I mean I…I don't know that much about writing but...” Reese stared even deeper into Joss’s eyes in awe. He had literal heart eyes as he stared at the woman across the table from him. 

“Well, well, it spoke to you, and that pleases me.” Joss felt like her insides were on fire looking at the tall, handsome man. 

“I.. I mean I really.. have.. you have to admire people who can be as... that articulate.” Reese smiled warmly at Joss, who more than returned his smile. 

Shaw and Root simultaneously looked at each other. They each knew what was going on. Shaw reached for another bread roll and Root took another sip of her wine. 

“Nobody has ever quoted me back to me before,” Joss leaned on the table to get closer to Reese. 

The rest of the dinner was Joss and Reese talking and flirting with each other. Shaw and Root exchanged glances then started texting each other. Then started trying to beat each other on their phones playing Words with Friends as their friends flirted so hard it looked like they might start grinding each other on the table. 

The four of them walked along the street after dinner. As they passed by a window front with shoes, Reese pulled Root aside for a private chat. 

“I've been looking for a pair of brown loafers.” Reese said loud enough for Shaw and Joss to hear as he pulled Root away from them for privacy. 

“What do you think of Joss?” asked Reese with concerned eyes to Root. This was her date after all. 

“Well, eh.” Root thought about it. Joss was an amazing woman, yet she didn’t feel a spark with her. 

“Do you think you could go out with her?” Reese was already so ready to go out with Joss. 

“I don't know, eh.” Root shifted from one foot to the other, already knowing her answer but stalling. 

“'Cos I feel really comfortable with her.”

Root nodded her head and smiled back at Reese. 

“You want to go out with Joss.”

“If it's alright with you.” Reese looked like he might actually beg for the chance to go out with Joss. 

“Sure, sure. I'm just worried about Shaw. She's very sensitive; she's going through a rough period and I...I just don't want you to reject her right now.” Root glanced quickly over to Shaw who scowled back at her. 

“I wouldn't, I totally understand,” Reese smiled back to Root. 

Joss took advantage of this diversion to have a private moment with Shaw. 

“If you don't think you're going to call Reese, do you mind if I call him?” Joss asked with hopeful eyes to Shaw. 

“Uh, no.” Shaw thought Reese was nice, but she didn’t want to date him; he felt more like a brother. 

“Good, good, good.” Joss had a big smile on her face and an overall dopey look on her face. 

“But for tonight you shouldn't. I mean Root's very vulnerable right now. I mean you can call Reese, that's fine. But just wait for a week or so, huh? Don't make any moves tonight.” Shaw straightened her jacket, she didn’t know if Root liked Joss or not but she wanted to make sure before she gave her date away. 

“Fine, no problem, I wasn't even thinking about tonight,” Joss couldn’t help a smile that began to spread across her face. 

Root and Reese walked back over to Shaw and Joss.

“Well I don't really feel much like walking anymore,” Joss said while stealing a glance at Reese. “I think I'll get a cab.”

“I'll go with you,” Reese said immediately as he followed Joss, reaching out to put his hand on her back as if it was the most natural thing in the world. 

“Great! Taxi!” Joss yelled with her fierce voice and a cab stopped immediately. 

Joss and Reese hurried into the cab and they were gone in a flash, leaving Root and Shaw alone on the street together. 

**Part 3 - Many Scenes Later**

By the time Root and Shaw reached Reese and Joss’s new apartment, Shaw was barely controlling her rage. Root kept looking at her trying to gauge on whether Shaw was going to blow up or not in front of their friend’s happy day. 

Reese and Joss were so happy showing Root and Shaw around their new apartment. They were still unpacking; furniture had just arrived that morning. All four of them stood around a wagon-wheel coffee table, an actual wagon wheel from like an old west wagon that had a plate of glass on top to turn it into a coffee table. 

The wagon wheel coffee was being judged. 

“I like it, it works. It says home to me,” Reese had a dopey smile on his face as he looked over to his fiancée Joss. 

“Alright, alright. We'll let Shaw and Root be the judge.” Joss looked sternly to Shaw and the Root. “What do you two think?”

“It's nice,” Shaw said in a dull tone as if she was bored and not really paying attention to the obnoxious coffee table she was being told to judge. 

“Case closed,” Reese smiled big at Joss and leaned in for a kiss, Joss turned her head. 

“Of course she likes it, she's Shaw. Root?” Joss looked over to Root intense, questioning eyes. 

Root shook her head. She added a scrunched face to really hit home the hideousness of the wagon wheel coffee table. 

“See, it’s awful,” Joss verbally conveyed what Root’s face was displaying. 

“What's so awful about it?” Reese asked honestly, hurt in his eyes. 

“It's so awful there's no way even to begin to explain what's so awful about it,” Joss said dumbfounded. 

“Joss…honey…don't object to all of my things,” Reese put on a fake smile to soon to be wife. 

“If we had an extra room you could put all of your things including your bar stools in there.”

“No, Joss, wait, wait, wait, wait... you don't like my bar stools?” Reese turned to Shaw. “Shaw, come on, someone has to be on my side.” The tall man pleaded to Shaw with puppy dog eyes. 

“I'm on your side, I'm just trying to help you have good taste,” Joss said while motioning her hands towards the wagon wheel coffee table and her husband to be. 

“I have good taste,” Reese shook his head. 

“Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn't possibly all have good taste and good humor.” Joss said in an assertive tone, this case was closed in her posture and body language. 

Shaw began pacing back and fourth, anger taking over her face. 

“You know it's funny. We started out like this, Tomas and I. We had blank walls, we hung things, we picked out tiles together.” Shaw looked angry as she noticed all the boxes and process of moving in together surrounded her, overwhelmed her. “Then you know what happens? Six years later you find yourself singing, ‘Guns and Ships’ in front of Martine.” 

“Do we have to talk about this right now?” Root said in a low voice as she moved close and invaded Shaw’s personal space so only she could hear her. 

“Yes, I think that right now actually is the perfect time to talk about this because I want our friends to benefit from the wisdom of my experience.” Shaw shot back to Root with intense eyes. 

Shaw turned to Reese and Joss. “Right now everything is great, everyone is happy, everyone is in love…” Shaw walked over to one of the open boxes and stuck her hand inside, pulling out a plate. “…but you got to know, that sooner or later, you're going to be screaming at other about who's going to get this dish. This eight dollar dish will cost you a thousand dollars in phone calls to the legal firm of that's-mine-this-is-yours.”

“Shaw...” Root had never seen Shaw so angry. She was worried about her. 

Shaw then went over and pointed out a stack of books on the floor. 

“Please, Joss, Reese, do me a favor for your own good, put your name in your books right now, before they get mixed up and you don't know who's is who's. Because one day, believe it or not, you'll go fifteen rounds over who's going to get this coffee table. This stupid, wagon wheel, Roy Rogers butt ugly garage sale coffee table!”

“I thought you liked it,” Reese said with a slight wounded look to Shaw. 

“I WAS BEING NICE!” Shaw yelled as she stormed out of the apartment. 

“She just bumped into Tomas,” Root looked over with sad eyes to Reese and Joss then followed Shaw outside. 

Joss reached over and pulled Reese close to her. She rubbed his chest with her hand in a comforting way and looked up into his eyes with so much sincerity and love. 

“I want you to know, that I will never…” Joss leaned in further to Reese, she stared deeply into his questioning eyes, “…want that wagon wheel coffee table.” She then sweetly kissed Reese’s lips. 

Root found Shaw pacing back and forth on the stoop of the apartment building. 

“I know I know I shouldn't have done it.” Shaw said in a still angry voice, her head down only glancing up somewhat shyly to look at Root. 

“Shaw, you're going to have to try and find a way of not blurting out every thought that you have, every moment that you have them.” Root crossed her arms against her chest. 

“Oh really?” Shaw felt anger spike back into her body as she turned to Root full on. 

“Yes, there are times and places for things.”

“Well the next time you're giving a Ted Talk on social graces would you let me know, 'cos I'll sign up.” Shaw spat at Root. 

“Hey! You don't have to take your anger out on me.”

“Oh, I think I'm entitled to throw a little anger your way, especially when I'm told how to live my life, by Ms. Nerd, ‘Computers are better than people’ Freak.” Shaw’s nostrils flared as she got up in Root’s personal space for once. 

“What's that supposed to mean?” Root asked back harshly. 

“I mean nothing bothers you. You never get upset about anything. Unless it involves computers.” 

“Don't be ridiculous!” Root was in fact very upset right now at Shaw. 

“What? You never talk about Hanna. How is that possible? You will rage for 45 minutes over some code but not Hanna? Don't you experience any feelings of loss?” Shaw knew she didn’t feel things like everybody else, but she also knew Root was hiding feelings.

“I don't have to take this crap from you…especially you.” Root knew this was a low blow to Shaw. She regretted her remark instantly. 

“If you're so over Hanna, why aren't you seeing anyone?” Shaw fired back to Root. 

“I see people,” Root felt so much anger now, she wanted to punch Shaw and kiss her at the same time. The kissing thing was way scarier than the punching thing. She should not be thinking about wanting to kiss her friend. 

“See people, have you slept with one person since you broke up with Hanna?” It bugged Shaw that Root never slept with anyone. Not that she wanted Root to sleep with someone, that thought made her super angry; she just wanted to know if Root was still hung up on Hanna. 

“What the hell does that have to do with anything? That will prove that I'm over Hanna, because I fucked somebody? Shaw you're going to have to move back to New Jersey because you've slept with everybody in New York and I don't see that turning Tomas into a faint memory for you. Besides I will make love to somebody when it is 'making love', not the way you do it like you're out for revenge or something. Or your stupid three night rule.” 

Root was so mad she was shaking. 

Shaw immediately felt weird, she didn’t like seeing Root upset. It made her stomach hurt. “Are you finished now?

“Yes,” Root replied back. 

“Can I say something?” 

“Yes.” Root looked at Shaw slowly. 

“I agree computers are better than people. Well, actually dogs and cats are the best, then computers then humans at the bottom.” Shaw looked at Root with a shy smile. 

Root without thinking yanked on Shaw’s shirt and pulled her into a tight hug. The full length of their bodies were pressed up against each other. Root cradled Shaw’s head. Shaw held on tight to Root, gripping her hips hard. She pressed her nose into Root’s hair and breathed in the now familiar lovely scent that somehow now always managed to calm her anger. 

Shaw felt warmth spread through her entire body; from a freakin hug she shook her head. 

Root held onto Shaw for as long as she could, her lips ghosting Shaw’s neck. She lightly massaged Shaw’s head where hand was cradling. She was feeling all kinds of things that one shouldn’t feel during a friend hug. 

Reese stumbled out the front door; he carried his beloved wagon wheel coffee table. 

“Don't say a word,” Reese snapped to his two friends. He continued on and carried the wagon wheel coffee table to the trash bin.


End file.
